Bring a Plate with La Belle Assiette and Nicholas Feuillatte: As a blogger who occasionally shares recipes and photography of my home cooking, I am only too aware of how important the right plate is. When I first started writing my blog I relied on my mother’s old china. Very beautiful it is too, but […]

hungryhouse Review of Top Takeaways. Guest post by Sarah James: I was asked to rise to the challenge to prove that a take-away can be a lovely dining experience as opposed to a fall back option when you don’t have time to cook/have gone past the stage where that’s even possible! Searching the site for […]

Livorno Fish Stew OK so this is my version of a very well known Tuscan recipe. The story is that fishermen in Livorno used to make this fish stew with whatever fish they had left at the end of the day. So far as I can tell there is no standard version, it’s one of […]

This entry is part of a food blogging challenge, to write about smoothies. Food Blogger Connect conference is the largest event of it’s kind in Europe for food bloggers and writers. This year Cuisinart has partnered with FBC (as official small domestic appliance partner) for a fabulous giveaway: two full weekend conference tickets to two […]

I am just at the start of planning out my Action Against Hunger Dinner Party. What I’m planning would probably be better described as a foodie supper party because I really want to do something quite informal, although quite foodie at the same time! I’d love some comments and feedback about this because I’d like […]

Simple Tapas – my take on Small Plate Dining I’m sure everyone has evenings like this. I really don’t feel like cooking a proper meal, but I want something comforting and easy. And, I don’t really have any ‘proper food’ in the fridge. By that I mean, there’s no substantial chunk of meat or fish, […]

Recently Published

A fantastic and intriguing evening of wine tasting at @thegamebirdlon where we had a tour around the 17th-century cellars that now house around 8,000 bottles of wine. The cellars were used as an air-raid shelter by the American Airforce who were stationed @thestaffordlondon (lucky them!) and there’s a whole collection of original #WorldWarII memorabilia including newspapers, posters and gas masks. You can book the whole space for private dining too. We were looked after by Master Sommelier, Gino Nardella who has worked at #TheStafford for over 35 years. I’d assumed that #thegamebird was just a reference to a menu with a good selection of game dishes, but it turns out that there’s another twist to the name. It’s a tribute to Nancy Wake, a former resident of The Stafford and an eccentric spy who used the in-house American Bar during the Second World War. She apparently decided that she liked the place and moved in to live there during her last years. During the War she was a leading figure in a network that helped Dunkirk survivors – Allied airmen and Jews to safety. She was the most decorated woman of the Second World War and was a true heroine – parachuted into France in 1944 to prepare for the D-Day invasion for example, where she lived rough and managed the organizing and training of 7,000 Maquisards.

Such was her love of The Stafford that she determined to spend her final years there – and although she never had the resources to pay her bills, the hotel was happy to accommodate her. Prince Charles and a whole host of anonymous donors used to contribute to her living expenses, which included 5 or 6 G&Ts in the American Bar each day! She died on August 7th 2011 at the age of 98.
It’s particularly charming that the hotel’s restaurant is named after her – and that there’s still a picture of her in the #AmericanBar.
#iglondon #londongram #instalondon #prettylittlelondon #londonstyle #londonculture #lovelondon #londonisopen #londonigers #lookuplondon #londonblog #tbin #londonarchitecture #historiclondon #tumblr http://bit.ly/2ybweP5